The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

A rabbit and a fox build a house and keep a jar of cream in the brook that keeps it cold near the impending home. Whenever Doc Rabbit is thirsty, he screams, “Whooo-hooo.” Bruh Fox tells the rabbit to inspect the unidentifiable scream, but instead, Doc Rabbit goes to the brook and drinks the cream under the guise of investigating. When Doc Rabbit returns, Bruh Fox asks about the noise’s source, and Doc Rabbit provides an ambiguous answer.

Suspicious, Bruh Fox creates a baby rabbit out of tar and puts it near the cream. Returning for a drink of cream, Doc Rabbit tries to talk to the tarred rabbit. When it doesn’t answer, Doc Rabbit kicks it, and his feet stick in the tar. After head-butting the tarred rabbit, Doc Rabbit’s head becomes stuck.

Bruh Fox finds Doc Rabbit and threatens to burn him. As the rabbit likes the feeling of fire on his fur, Doc Rabbit doesn’t think the threat is a punishment. Bruh Fox then threatens to throw Doc Rabbit into a thorny briar patch. Doc Rabbit begs him not to do this, so Bruh Fox does just that. In the briar patch, Doc Rabbit reveals that he likes it: He was born in the briar patch—it’s his home, and he feels safe.

There’s a famine, and Tappin, a land turtle, his children, and everyone else on the land is starving, but the eagle can feed his children in the tree. The eagle must fly across the ocean to get food, and the eagle gives Tappin feathers so he can fly alongside the eagle.

The feathers fall off over the ocean, and Tappin drops into the underworld where he meets the king. Hearing about the famine, the king gives Tappin a dipper, or a cup with a long handle, and a spell he can recite when he wants food. Tappin carries the dipper home, and, reunited with his children, Tappin says the spell. Meat, gravy, biscuits, and more appear in the dipper. Tappin shows the dipper to his king, and the king uses it so everyone in the land gets to eat all sorts of good food.

With the dipper back in his possession, Tappin says the spell, but no food comes out of the dipper. He asks the underworld king what’s going on, and the underworld king gives him cowhide and another spell to say. When Tappin says the spell, the cowhide hits the children, and some of them die. The cowhide even assaults the king. To protect himself from the violent cowhide, Tappin makes a cover, but the cowhide beats through his cover and leaves marks on his shell. Now, Tappin never hangs out in a clean area. He’s always around leaves or a log.

A long time ago, before the United States was a country, there were only birds, animals, and Indigenous people. Then, white enslavers came with enslaved Black people and beagles as hunting dogs. The white enslavers make the Indigenous people disappear, and the beagles chase Bruh Deer to the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. If the deer jumps, there’s an alligator in the river that will eat him. Instead, the deer suddenly twists his body, and the beagles can’t stop themselves and fall off the cliff and into the water where the alligator eats them. The alligator and deer reach an agreement: The deer makes the beagles fall into the water, and the alligator won’t harm the deer or his family.

Bruh Lizard has a large sword that quickly cuts his crop. Bruh Lizard talks to Sword, so Sword does all the hard labor. When the lizard leaves, Bruh Rabbit steals Sword and tells it, “Go-ee-tell,” and Sword starts to cut the crops. Soon, Sword cuts the crop Bruh Rabbit needs to live. Bruh Rabbit screams, “Go-ee-tell,” but Sword won’t stop—it destroys everything, including Bruh Rabbit’s cabbage.

Hiding in a bush, Bruh Lizard laughs. Bruh Rabbit sees Bruh Lizard and asks for help. Bruh Lizard says Sword works quicker each time it hears the word “go-ee-tell.” The lizard screams, “Go-ee-pom,” and Sword stops. Bruh Lizard picks it up and goes home as Bruh Rabbit helplessly watches.

Bruh Gator lives in the water and doesn’t understand how Bruh Rabbit can live on the hard land. Bruh Rabbit agrees: The hard land brings trouble. Bruh Gator asks what Trouble looks like, and Bruh Rabbit offers to show him. The next day, Bruh Gator admires his white skin in the mirror, and Sis Alligator asks him where he’s going, but Bruh Gator ignores her. Finally, he answers, and Sis Alligator wants to join, but Bruh Gator won’t let her.

Bruh Gator tries to find Bruh Rabbit, but he’s smoking his pipe and hiding. Exhausted from searching for the rabbit, Bruh Gator falls asleep in the grass. Sis Alligator and the little alligators come looking for Bruh Gator but can’t find him. They, too, become tired and fall asleep in the grassy field. Bruh Rabbit thinks that these alligators will learn about Trouble. He knocks coal from his pipe onto the grass and blows on it until there’s a fire. The alligators wake up, and Bruh Gator joins Sis Alligator and the little alligators. As the alligators don’t want to frighten Trouble, they stay put, and the fire burns them.

Bruh Rabbit screams about how the alligators now know Trouble, and the alligators return to the river with their white skins burned black. Bruh Gator tells Bruh Rabbit to stay away from the river, and Bruh Rabbit is afraid of the river and the alligators. Bruh Gator stays near the river, and if he hears anything resembling a fiery noise, he falls off the log and into the water because he wants to avoid Trouble.

A sea wave tells a story about a wolf and his nephew. To trick the wolf, his nephew tells him there’s a feast going down when really, it’s a dance. Through birds, the wolf gets feathers and flies to feast. The dance starts, and the wolf is upset that it’s a dance and not a feast. Nevertheless, the wolf asks his nephew for food, and his nephew reminds him that it’s a dance, not a feast. Irate, Wolf insults the birds—Black Crow, Vulture, Blue Jay, Hawk, and Guinea Hen. Each bird takes back their feathers, and when the dance is over, Wolf can’t fly back: He’s all alone and starving.

Aunt Fish-Horse (a walrus or manatee) swims by, and the wolf gives her money to take him home. Wolf sees that the Aunt Fish-Horse has milk, and once they reach land, he steals her milk and leaves her sobbing on the beach. Nephew asks Aunt Fish-Horse why she’s upset, and she tells him what happened. Nephew promises to bring Wolf to Aunt Fish-Horse if she pays him. She agrees, and Nephew yells at his wife to get him his bowl and knife—there's a fish-horse on the beach waiting for him to kill it.

Wolf wants Aunt Fish-Horse first, and he grabs her, but she grabs him harder by the leg and yanks him into the sea. Wolf’s wife watches the spectacle and cries. Wolf tells her not to cry: He and Aunt Fish-Horse are just playing around. As Wolf loses the battle, he tells his wife to go ahead and cry. Two days later, Wolf floats to the top of the water. He’s filled with little fish, and Nephew catches them. There’s a funeral for Wolf, and everyone cries at it.